1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electric devices that require input of settings, commands, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, almost all electric devices include some sort of an operation enabling a user to select and set desired operation conditions and the like. For most electric devices, such as a printer or a sewing machine, the operation panel has a simple configuration including only the minimum required operation keys.
However, some commands and the like can not be input through the operation panel because the operation panel has only the minimum required simple configuration. For example, the user will be unable to input a password that include alphabet letters if the operation panel is not provided with alphabet keys or similar mechanism. In this case, the user can connect an external device to the electric device, and user the eternal device to set operation conditions and the like of the electric device. The external device may include, in addition to the minimum required operation keys, a monitor display, alphanumeric keys, and the like.
However, the external unit is manufactured as a separate component from the main body of the electric devices. Accordingly, a number of components increases, so the manufacturing costs increase. Also, a connection member is required to connect the external unit to the main body. Also, the external unit occupies additional space, which prevents from providing a compact sized electric device.
There has been also provided a system including a plurality of personal computers (PC) and a plurality of printers connected to each other via a network, such as local area network (LAN), Internet, or the like. In some cases, the printers connected to such a network are provided with a function to communicate with a remote device via e-mail. For example, the printer can send an e-mail message to a predetermined address so as to notify a user that requested printing has been completed or that an error has occurred during printing operations. Alternatively, a user of the PC can send a print job to the printer using e-mail. In this case, the user can include his or her own e-mail address or any other e-mail address in the e-mail message, so that the printer sends an e-mail message to the specified e-mail address or addresses when necessary.
However, when the user sends a print job to the printer via a communication method other than e-mail, such as via LPR in a pier-to-pier manner or via a server other than a mail server, such as Windows NTRT or NetwareRT, then the user cannot notify his or her own e-mail address to the printer. Therefore, the printer can not send any e-mail message to the user.
Also, the printer generates and sends an e-mail message in accordance with a special print protocol which s based on e-mail protocol. Accordingly, the personal computers need to be provided with a port monitor software that supports the special print protocol, or else the personal computer will be unable to receive the e-mail message from the printer.